Oakland, California (EastBayDaily) — In an important scientific advancement for the medical cannabis industry, Steep Hill Lab has launched breakthrough technology, QuantaCann which will significantly impact current cannabis quality control methods. Steep Hill Lab leveraged their industry experience as the nation’s leading medical cannabis laboratory to develop innovative software and scientific instrumentation that improves the ease and speed by which cannabis can be analyzed.

Product testing is rapidly becoming the demand of patients seeking to understand the strength of a particular product, and find the best medicine to alleviate their particular ailments. Currently, 17 states and the District of Columbia have enacted laws to legalize medical cannabis but federal laws prohibit all interstate transportation—even for medical testing.

Faced with these circumstances, Steep Hill Lab President and co-founder, engineer David Lampach, set out to create a solution. Lampach and the Steep Hill team developed QuantaCann after working with a team of nationally-recognized expert chemists, engineers, and programmers for 18 months. QuantaCann combines Near-Infrared Reflective (NIR) Spectroscopy and thousands of calibration samples from Steep Hill Labs’s vast database to deliver test results in seconds. As an added benefit, the QuantaCann proprietery software can post real time strain test results to a client’s Facebook, Twitter, Sticky Guide, or Leafly social media sites and will soon be integrated into various Point of Sale systems including MJFreeway.

Following the development of QuantaCann, Steep Hill Lab entered into a lengthy beta period with Magnolia Wellness in Sacramento California and then later, Harborside Health Center in Oakland California. Given the potential demands of such a system the test clients had to be two of the nation’s top patient access facilities in order to ensure quality results in keeping with Steep Hill Lab’s past and current work.

Vice President and Co-Founder Addison DeMoura reports that QuantaCann’s official launch has been well received and systems are available to qualified parties. Current QuantaCann locations in California include the Vapor Room Cooperative in San Francisco, Conscious Collective Apothecary in Hopland, Harborside Health Center in Oakland and San Jose, Elemental Wellness in San Jose, and River City Phoenix in Sacramento. Outside of California QuantaCann is operating in the growing medical marijuana markets of Washington and Michigan at iTest in Seattle, and Arborside in Ann Arbor.

One major benefit of QuantaCann is being able to instantly identify strains rich in CBD, a rare compound in marijuana that has many beneficial medical effects and counters the psychoactive effects caused by THC. According to Harborside Executive Director, Steve DeAngelo, 5 new CBD strains have already been discovered at Harborside Health Center since using QuantaCann. Strains with high CBD content are preferred by many medical cannabis users as it does not promote the sometimes disconcerting euphoria often associated with marijuana.

The application of NIR technology to medical cannabis testing is revolutionary and exemplifies the technological innovation emanating from this rapidly growing sector. NIR has a long history and is widely used as an analytical tool in the pharmaceutical, food and agricultural industries this made it a logical step for Steep Hill Lab to adapt it specifically for cannabis. Because of QuantaCann, it is now possible for providers throughout the world to provide precise cannabis potency analysis to their patients within seconds and to do so with the same tools being used by other industries with recognized standards. The QuantaCann software can also generate custom compliance reports, which allows for a centralized agency to regulate the industry and provide oversight. Thus Steep Hill’s QuantaCann speaks not only to the patients’ and industry’s call to legitimize itself. It is also in direct dialogue with local government agencies, and communities as they move forward in developing the methods and systems for overseeing medical cannabis.

Steep Hill Lab CEO, AnnaRae Grabstein: “Steep Hill Lab has created a solution to the inherent obstacles of cannabis testing and made it readily available to everyone in all medical marijuana states.”

For more information, or to schedule an interview please contact Adam Mintz at 510-562-7400 or email adam.mintz(at)steephilllab(dot)com